USC baseball coach Dan Hubbs said he can’t approach this season worrying about his job security. “If I’m coaching for an extension, then I can’t be the best coach for (my players),” Hubbs said. “And if I’m coaching for the extension, then we’re not going to win enough games because I’m not focused on the right things. That’s the way I believe it.”
(SCNG file photo by Kyusung Gong)

USC is where he met his wife as a sophomore, walked onto the baseball team as a pitcher and has spent the past six seasons as the Trojans’ head coach. His oldest son, Patrick, is now on campus too as a freshman pitcher.

“This place is special to me, and it always will be special to me,” Hubbs said. “When I got into coaching, this was kind of the pinnacle for me.”

His future at the helm, though, is a little hazy, an open question that hangs over the Trojans as they begin their season Friday against Nebraska-Omaha. Hubbs is in the final year of his contract, coaching for his future beyond 2019.

After guiding USC to the NCAA tournament in 2015, the first berth for the program in a decade, Hubbs received a multi-year contract extension. But the Trojans have gone 75-90 overall in the three seasons since and have failed to make the postseason, a drought that has added some weight to expectations at the dawn of another spring.

In an interview in his office overlooking Dedeaux Field earlier this week, Hubbs conveyed optimism for the season and downplayed pressure involving job security. It was not his focus, he said, which remains centered on his players.

“If I’m coaching for an extension, then I can’t be the best coach for them,” Hubbs said. “And if I’m coaching for the extension, then we’re not going to win enough games because I’m not focused on the right things. That’s the way I believe it.”

If the Trojans, picked ninth in the Pac-12 preseason poll, are to manage a return to postseason play, they will need a cast of younger players to make significant strides.

Last season, more than half the roster was freshmen or sophomores, and the inexperience was visible at the plate and on the mound. Of the 11 teams in the Pac-12, the Trojans finished 10th in batting average, 11th in on-base percentage and 10th in slugging percentage, and their pitching staff held a combined 4.99 ERA, the third-highest in the conference.

“We’re just older all around,” Hubbs said.

Some of their more talented pitchers, though, are still underclassmen. Right-hander Kyle Hurt, a sophomore, headlines the pitching staff and is expected to start the season opener on Friday.

After opting to enroll in school after he was selected late in the MLB draft out of high school, Hurt threw a team-high 59 innings as a freshman but struggled with his command, especially with a hard-throwing fastball that approaches the mid-90s. He had 45 strikeouts but also 40 walks.

Entering this season, Hubbs thought Hurts seemed “way more comfortable in his own skin,” throwing fewer strikes in intrasquad scrimmages in the offseason.

“He’s looking like he’s really ready to be that guy on a Friday night,” Hubbs said.

The weekend rotation is projected to be rounded out by Chandler Champlain, a freshman right-hander from Santa Margarita High who was drafted by the Angels in the 38th round in June.

Hubbs believes the young rotation allows for more veteran arms in the bullpen, a group that includes right-hander Connor Lunn, who was named to the watch list for the NCBWA Stopper of the Year award, given to the top relief pitcher in the nation.

When the Trojans last reached the postseason in 2015, offense was a big part of their winning formula. They scored the most runs of any team in the conference that spring.

Outfielder Blake Sabol, who had a team-best 58 hits last season, returns, along with shortstop Chase Bushor, who hit .301.

C.J. Subbs, a fourth-year junior, has returned from Tommy John surgery that sidelined him in 2018 and takes over as catcher for Sabol. He is the younger brother of Garrett Stubbs, who was the catcher for the Trojans in 2015.

USC has seven of its starting position players back, and Hubbs believes the roster has some similarities to the 2015 team, which was motivated after being among the last few teams to miss to the tournament the previous season. The Trojans weren’t that close to making the field in 2018, but they hovered around .500 for most of the season, so Hubbs believes they weren’t that far off, either.

“I think this team realizes and the guys realize that they were closer than it looked last year,” Hubbs said.

Skinny: The Trojans have a favorable early schedule – their first 13 games are at Dedeaux Field before they face rival UCLA at Dodger Stadium on March 10. Hubbs considers it important for his team to get off to a fast start after the Trojans lost the opener in two of their three previous seasons, including a 5-1 loss to Utah Valley last February and a 1-0 loss to North Dakota in 2016. Early success would help build momentum, he reasons. “We have to learn how to get over that hump,” Hubbs said.

Joey Kaufman is the USC beat writer for the Southern California News Group. Since joining the Orange County Register in 2015, he has also covered Major League Baseball and UCLA athletics. His work has been recognized by the Associated Press Sports Editors and Football Writers Association of America. Kaufman grew up in beautiful downtown Burbank.